


Breathe

by kraken_wise



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Armitage Hux Has Feelings, Art Inspired, M/M, Minor Injuries, Planet Destruction, Protective Kylo Ren, SKB rescue, Serious Injuries, Snoke Being a Dick, Starkiller Base, Sudden Realizations, but they do, they don't know they need each other, who rescued who tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:13:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25334443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kraken_wise/pseuds/kraken_wise
Summary: So this was how it was to be: a fated will of the Force that left him to die a miserable death on a planet hellbent in its self-destruction.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 80





	Breathe

Kylo could only watch the fleeting figures on the chasm’s other side before being unable to keep his head up any longer. The cold, sickening  _thwack_ of snow against his fresh wound sounded grossly distorted in his ears; blurring with the feeble hiss he tried to bite out.

There was no wondering where he went wrong. His mind was blank. It would almost have been meditative were there not such a tangled knot of  _emotion_ taking shape in the vacancy. When his body began to shake, it took him far too long to identify the culprit as the earth beneath him; not the cold or the blood loss. Somewhere above him, branches started splitting and shattering.

So this was how it was to be: a fated will of the Force that left him to die a miserable death on a planet hellbent in its self-destruction.

Another crunch broke through the clutter of noise.

“REN!”

The crunching became louder - a hurried patter across dying ice.

When the world came back into focus, Hux’s eyes were boring into his. Clouded, panting breath shrouded his expression, but Kylo felt him  _radiate._

Fear.

Hatred.

Disgust.

So many variations of loathing - and yet Kylo knew them all too well. He and Hux were perfect mirror images. The Force sang out on his fingertips; he pulled the threads of Hux’s emotions, stitching himself a temporary life. He sewed darkness into his bones, found the folds of skin that bled and brought the patchwork of pain to his mind. 

“How long do we have?” he gasped out.

“Long enough to get back to the ship.” Hux’s voice was strange and foreign. But Kylo didn’t have the energy to fully figure it out. Draining his reservoir of strength, he began to sit up.

To his surprise, Hux was suddenly beside him - an arm around his back helping to support his weight. Kylo knew his little utterance gave him away, but no snide remarks came of it. Hux was far stronger than he looked. He hauled Kylo’s arm over his shoulders, and when their eyes met again, gone was the broken gaze. Hux’s stare crackled with a blind fury that Kylo was certain - despite how long they’d worked together - he’d never seen before.

“REN.” Hux’s voice snapped like the bitter cold. 

“Don’t make me repeat myself again. Can. You. Walk?” 

Kylo tried to nod, but the screeching red line down his body tugged and pulled at the movement. Whatever noise it was he made in response to the pain, Hux had mostly likely heard it - would most likely bring it up in a future taunt.

But at least he was going to live to hear it.

Hux’s body shifted against him, preparing to take a step forward. So Kylo looked up, fixed his gaze on the bright lights of a ship in the distance, and not on the deafening roar of certain implosion, and inhaled the deep cold through his nose. Its icy sharpness jerked clarity through him, frost pulling into every cavity and crevice. For only a moment, he became vaguely aware of Hux watching him pull himself into a more upright stance, but then Hux began to move, and Kylo refused to lag behind.

The complete dependency wasn’t lost on him. 

Every step together, Kylo understood, were ones he could never have taken on his own.

As the ground shook again, a  _tch_ clicked from Hux’s tongue and pulled those thin lips back into a sneer - like the planet’s complete collapse and their possible immolation were only a mere  _inconvenience_ . 

_“This is General Hux.”_

Kylo kept his gaze straight ahead. He didn’t need to look to know that Hux had activated his comm. However, the next words nearly made him swivel; nearly caused his legs to buckle. _“Kylo_ _Ren has been secured. We are approximately point oh-six miles from the departure point. Should the situation continue its escalation, you are to evacuate without us.”_

Kylo exhaled a furious huff. “I’m _not_ dying on this planet,” he stated pointedly.

“Good for you, Ren.” Hux muttered, silencing the chatter in his ear. “Let me know how that works out.”

“You didn’t have to come back!” Kylo snarled, heels scuffing into the snow. “You should be gone by now!”

“The Supreme Leader sent me to fetch you.”

A splash of anger ruddied the rest of Kylo’s face. It was true. He could hear the way Hux said it, that it was unquestionably true. 

But something else lingered - and it was that  _something_ that infuriated him. 

“Don’t be such a kriffing _child_ , Ren.” Hux sniffed disdainfully. But his arm clung tighter to Kylo’s waist, trying to keep him steady. “I can _feel_ you seething.” 

Daggered words honed their edges on Kylo’s teeth, teetering on the tip of his tongue as he opened his mouth. Such pointed vitriol died as the ground beneath them began to crack and splinter. _“Faster,”_ was all he gasped instead.

The world skated beneath icy soles. His lungs burned raw and heavy in his chest with each gasp of frozen air, and could hear something of the same happening beside him. 

With each relayed position -  _point-oh-five. point-oh-four. point-oh-three. -_ Hux’s voice became more stiff. 

Kylo thought to point this out. He tried to think of a snide remark that would give him an upper hand, would fuel Hux’s fiery temper and warm his bones until they made it to the shuttle. Instead, it would be silence - not speech - that changed his body’s temperature. Seemingly simultaneously, he and Hux noticed the eerie stillness that had crept up on them. It was enough to make them both stop dead - neither wanting to a make a fatal mistake. 

“Aren’t planets supposed to get louder when they explode?” Kylo muttered, his tone somewhere between a wry joke and genuine concern. 

But he’d never know if Hux had a response.

In fearsome synchronicity, the trees around them shattered. Their large trunks split with terrifying ease, bursting sap and needle sharp splinters in all directions. 

It would have been an easy danger for Kylo to deflect. 

In an uninjured state.

Hux went down before Kylo could properly react. Time ground to the millisecond, as he watched a massive branch slam into the back of Hux’s skull, saw the fear that flashed in usually stoic eyes, then the dulling of life as they rolled back. Kylo disentangled himself in a snap decision. His mind and body strained in their desperate exertion - his gloved hands outstretched - though he was unable to do much more than drain the projectiles of their momentum. There was no propelling, no holding in place. It was enough, and would have  _to be_ enough. 

“ _GUH--!_ ” 

Kylo heaved the breath from his lungs as he fell to his knees. 

The destructive cacophony resumed its fearsome pitch. It rang in his ears as he grabbed for Hux, rolling him over on his back. 

His heart stopped at bright red and dull green. 

Blood from a wound that lay somewhere in the thick of Hux’s hair was pouring a sticky trickle down the side of his face. A steady stream poured from his nose as well - Kylo was certain it was broken, but he didn’t dare touch and find out. But there was still breath in Hux’s chest. He could see it move, could hear the wheeze and rattle of a man who’d had the wind knocked out of him. His collision on the frozen ground did not help matters. 

“Ren, quit looking at me as though you’ve never seen an injured man before. If that’s truly the case, I’m filing a  _serious_ complaint.” 

Kylo couldn’t help it. He smiled just a little. The world was falling down around them and he couldn’t help but smile. 

“Stop— _doing_ that—!” Hux sputtered out, startling Kylo at the sudden exclamation. However, Hux attempted to refuse any chance at questioning. “I…I believe I’ve sustained a sizeable head wound. You’re going to have to help me up.”

Kylo shook with delirious laughter. His optimism was rapidly waning. They were going to die on this planet after all. The two of them - the two most powerful men in the galaxy and they were going to die a horrific, obliterating death that would remove all trace of their existence. 

He could see it clearly now - why Hux had ordered a takeoff without them. 

They never stood a chance.

He was supposed to die on this miserable ball of ice and rock.

With Hux.

That was when Kylo stopped laughing.

A ribboned plume of breath escaped him as he bent closer to Hux. Between them, there was nothing but the simplest act of life. It warmed their faces, condensed in shallow hollows, melted the crystalline structures on long eyelashes. And in every puff of air, Kylo saw the deep resignation that made up Hux’s being.

“It’s…a punishment.” Kylo’s voice vibrated with emotion. “It’s a _punishment_ isn’t it?!” The volume of his fury crescendoed. “The planet’s falling apart! YOUR planet! HE—! He sent you here to get me—but he KNEW—!” 

How could Snoke  _not_ know? He knew things even  _Kylo_ hadn’t been aware his mind had crafted. Even now he could intimately remember the recent shock of discovering he’d been finding Hux attractive; even going so far as to imagine a relationship with him! He’d been so grateful for Snoke to pluck those treacherous thoughts and bring them forward so Kylo could eradicate them. Snoke had even been kind enough to forgive him for the unknowing distraction. 

How could he  _not_ know Kylo had been so thoroughly injured? 

How could he  _not_ know the result of combat—

It was as though a TIE Fighter had careened into his chest. He was cold and stunned, and suddenly he couldn’t remember how his body functioned. How did his lungs work? How had he always just  _inhaled_ without purposefully thinking about it? He could only take in tiny gasps as the overwhelming realization spread through his veins.

He’d failed.

He was being punished too.

“ _BREATHE!”_

Hux slammed his fist against Kylo’s back as he shouted; dislodging the panic from his throat. It worked.

_“Did you know?”_ Kylo asked. Unpredictability began to filter back into his words.

Hux almost did not meet his gaze. 

But then he sighed. Kylo watched another stream of blood pour from his head wound.

“If we’re going to die anyway, I might as well state the obvious.” Hux smeared the blood on the side of his face with his left hand. “Yes, Kylo. I knew…I knew and I did as I was ordered.”

“You…just called me  _Kylo_ .”

A light flush of pink bloomed behind Hux’s frostbitten skin, but he said nothing more until a yawn escaped him. 

It was now that Kylo began to realize Hux’s eyelids had been gradually getting heavier and heavier with each passing second. His world was becoming screamingly dizzying, but the realization that Hux was drifting towards sleep decisively parted the fog of confusion that had been muddling his mind. 

“Hux.” Kylo began to look around, trying to find the comm earpiece that had been knocked loose. “Hey, Hux you can’t go to sleep on me, all right?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Hux murmured. “I’m not sleeping. I’m merely giving death a head start.” 

“HUX.” Kylo snapped. A palpable fear landed with a thud in the pit of his stomach. He patted the ground futilely for a moment more before giving up on the endeavor. If they were going to make it back to the ship, he was going to have to move  _now_ .

Gingerly, he pulled Hux into his arms. “I’m never going to let you live this down, all right?” But his attempt at goading only got a faint exhale. A glance at Hux’s frostbitten face was all the more it took to try and stand.

That was when he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, a sharp red line running towards them, jagged edges all aglow, scarring the pale ground. It unzipped the planet’s seams - leaving a great, gaping maw in its wake that widened and trailed its thin harbinger. 

With a desperate keen, Kylo tried to stand - but he knew he was too late. 

The earth split alongside him, its accompanying chasm bending each piece and sending both him and Hux spilling down the newly shaped hillside. 

But he wouldn’t let go. 

The snow was a harder impact than any ground he’d ever tasted. It beat him, knocked him about with each violent roll, but Kylo held Hux fast, refusing to shield himself. 

They plummeted down rockier terrain. When Hux’s uniform began ripping on sharp edges, and his arms had bloody channels scored into them, Kylo cried out as though he’d been the wounded party. He tried to fold Hux in closer, an unknown terror pumping like adrenaline through his body.

The snow where they landed was mostly just a grey muck. 

It should have been a positive sign. It should have been a sign of life. The path of footprints, of busy bodies scurrying about. But it was simply a ghost of what had been there. There was no shuttle. No shouts or calls amidst the reddening sky. The smell of fuel taunted him.

They’d been so close.

The pain Kylo had pulled into his core suddenly flared a white-hot rage; an overwhelming desire to know all that may have been denied; a desperate need to live, for them both to live; for Kylo to ask the many questions that now bubbled in his mind and stretched his fury.

Kylo staggered to his feet.

Another rumble of earth cut him down.

Hux was heavier and heavier in his arms. He wasn’t even sure if he was breathing at this point. But he wasn’t letting go.

He hauled back up—

—to be brought down again once more. 

But he held Hux tight, hand cradling his head in fear of impact. 

Gritting his teeth, Kylo shoved himself upwards.

A violent shaking slammed him to his knees. 

And still Hux stayed firm in his arms. 

But Kylo could feel every ounce of will slipping, draining, pouring and seeping out from him, and sleep lulled him with promises of peace and ease. 

Then he saw the light.

The bright, overhead floodlights of a shuttle.

With a sharp huff of breath, Kylo slammed his fist against the bowcaster wound in his side. The resulting shout was deafening. Dark spots bloomed in his vision as he gulped air in gasping breaths. 

Kylo pulled himself to his feet again, and staggered forward.

When Certain Death walks pale from between dark trees, the wisest should heed whatever it calls for. 

Kylo called for help. For Hux. 

He boarded the shuttle and held him in his arms until medical gently pried him away with whispered reassurances.

In the blur, he realized he had been crying.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a beautiful piece of art that [ ArsTyrannus(Monster)](https://twitter.com/ArsTyrannus/status/1279818541684994050?s=20) did for Kylux positivity week and that I forgot to post until now! ^^;
> 
> Find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/kraken_wise) or [tumblr](https://tumblr.com/blog/wisekrakenwise) and say hi!


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